Durzan Malakim

I know it was you indy523. You who broke my heart. You broke my heart.

The Long Sleep could be another variable in the Drake Equation. LS is the number of space-faring/technological civilizations that are in hibernation/waiting for a signal.

I suspect the game effects and SFX of skills have always been loosely defined so that GMs can choose how important they are in their games. A HERO System game is like a movie with the GM as director. In a superhero action adventure movie, how much screen time do you want to devote to The Prince Charmer (PC*) persuading Unnamed Mook #1 to stop working for Mastermind? The GM might be content adjudicating this interaction with a simple skill roll because the encounter is intended to be nothing more than a minor obstacle on the way to "The Big Action Scene." The game effects might be that the PC can cut to the chase quietly on a success or the Mook raises an alarm if the PC fails. The special effect is Prince Charmer is a really persuasive guy who uses mumble-mumble-hand-waved-movie-magic. However maybe you're game is all about role-playing character-driven moments, and the PC spends an entire scene discussing the henchman's life with Marty Mook (because obviously he needs a name now). After ten minutes of conversation, the PC uses what he's learned from Marty Mook to try and persuade him to come work for him instead. The GM decides Marty is a naturally loyal sort who is also deathly afraid of crossing his super-powered boss. The PC may have his work cut out for him. The game-effects could be the PC gains a new Contact, DNPC, or Summon on a success, or Marty triggers a silent alarm to betray the PC on a failure. The special effect is simple conversation. *Yes, this acronym is intentionally meant to also stand for Player Character.

I think this is a case where truth is stranger than fiction. In a super-heroic setting, the villain uses mind control to become the ruler of Campaign City and we nod our heads and say, "Yeah, that's believable." In the real world, a villain uses persuasion to convince someone to vote for them, to strap a bomb to themselves and blow themselves up, or to believe the Earth is flat despite all evidence to the contrary, and we say, "That's way too powerful for a normal person. It would take Mind Control to get someone to do those things."

In another thread there was a suggestion to resolve some skills contests with a damage versus defense mechanic instead of the pass/fail-in-one-phase-skill mechanic. Persuasion would work well with this kind of model where you slowly whittle away someone's objections rather than the burst-damage effect that better suits Mind Control in my opinion. For example, to convince the Goon to let you go you could treat every skill level in Persuasion as 1d6 versus the Goon's EGO and defenses such as a duty to follow orders (+1 defense) and fear of his boss (+2 defense), for Def 3 / 8 EGO. Alternatively, you could require Persuasion to inherently take extra time. I know that RAW you can recite Hamlet in one phase as a free action, but actual persuasion takes time and back-and-forth interaction where you listen as often as you speak. If baseline persuasion took a minute or ten minutes, then trying to do it in one phase would be at a penalty for rushing. Skill monkeys could do a better rush job than a normal person, but they would no longer walk around with the equivalent of Jedi Mind tricks.

How combat-optimized do you expect these heroes to be? While I'm sure there are Champions games that require and reward role-playing and skill challenges, I suspect most new players will be expecting to join Superhero Fight Club. You don't want to give them an Ang Lee Hulk when they are expecting a "Hulk Smash!" version. Things to consider: Beast: Will hate any opponent who can move out of her reach, especially vertically. Belt: Will probably not like superhero fight club since he spent nearly 100 character points on skills appropriate to his origin rather than abilities to fight other super heroes. Blur: will play like a video game character controlled by one-button. "I press the Passing Strike button again and again forever." Is there no other attack option you can give her? Blast: Will probably do well in the inevitable "superheroes fight each other when they first meet" encounter. Bolt: Is already well built for superhero fight club, but could be even scarier if he invested fewer points in customization skills. Brain: Is already well built for superhero fight club, and can hover just out of Beast's reach and ruin her day. Brick: Will also hate any opponent who can move out of his reach, especially vertically.

Just curious @G3taso, did you end up going with a darkness or invisibility build? From the discussion of all the ways darkness to mental senses can fail, I'd personally just pay the points for invisibility and call it a day.

For discriminatory senses such as vision and hearing, the absence of a signal (such as that caused by Darkness) nonetheless provides some information. Exactly how informative the lack of signal is depends on how keen the sense is, or in game terms, whether you have paid full price for either the Discriminatory or Analyze sense modifiers. Since Mental senses are neither discriminatory or nor allow analyzing by default, I'd say that the lack of signal in a mental darkness field does not by itself provide someone with enough information to say, "There's a hole in my perception 10 meters to the South." For that information you could rely on your normal discriminatory senses such as vision to say, "I can see the guy, but cannot sense a mind." Darkness to sight Invisibility to sight Entangle that blocks sight Barrier that blocks sight Flash attack versus sight Suppress/Drain sight

Another possible magic multi-form might be golem clones as described in David Brin's book Kiln People. Essentially the golem clones have lifespans from one-day to one-week and the original source human has the option to incorporate or discard the golem's memories. Perhaps disposal goelms are the discount option for the masses and the Eidolon avatars are for the wealthy and powerful.

I've gotten some good usage out of 2d6 of luck. Obviously it's not dependable, but sometimes being lucky is better than being talented.

I like this variant because it would make skill checks an ongoing challenge that multiple people can cooperate on rather than a one-phase pass-fail challenge. How would you assign STUN to difficult tasks? Is something like developing a unified field theory in physics a 6 DEF, 100 STUN task or a 6 DEF 1000 STUN task?

Since humans adapt quickly, I would expect magic to be the new normal in people's everyday lives. They would study it, determine it's limits, and found companies devoted to developing industrialized applications of it. I'd expect things like: Home security brought to you by house spirits, Foo dogs, or literal guardian angels. Glamors and actual transformations to replace plastic surgeries, make-up, and fashion. AI and the Internet is replaced with or supplemented by knowledge spirits, imps, or ghosts. Maybe Siri actually has a real voice now. Walmart sells magic items of Made in China.

There are different flavors of reactive-building. Reactions to common occurrences like "I burn a lot of END every fight" or "I take a lot of STUN/BODY every fight" are probably proper reactions. Reactions to the rare-scary-monster-of-the-week (RaSMOW) like "I need resistant hearing flash defense to stand up against Killer Croaker" are expensive mistakes. It's just taken me awhile to tell the difference between these reactions. The first time I got my ass handed to me by a RaSMOW I thought, "I am vastly underpowered and need to fix this gap in my defenses." When a different RaSMOW beat me with a different trick I clued in that "We're not supposed to be invulnerable. I don't have to spend points trying to protect myself against every conceivable AVAD." However I'd already spent some points on one rare defense (resistant mental defenses in my case). It was nice having the option to rebuild around my original concept and stop participating in an arms race.

Only Corporate America is an Ayn Rand acolyte, but if you're wondering what glue holds the group together, it could be that Corporate America pays everyone. It's certainly in character for him to compensate for superheroics. This is all just fun and goofing around. If something grabs you, feel free to run with it. I provided my idea of what a knock-off Avengers group would look like, but you can certainly provide your own alternatives like @Cantriped did with Irony Man.

Are your players experienced enough with HERO and character design that they don't suffer from purchase regret or do they just have to suffer with any bad purchases they make?

You could approach cyberspace or any alternate reality the way The Strange RPG does and essentially provide a separate character sheet for each realm/reality your characters travel to. That may require more effort than you want to invest, but doing so would definitely give cyberspace a distinct feel and allow distinct rules and powers.

Here are the mappings I had in mind from the MCU: Corporate America infringes on Captain America. Irony Man was meant to infringe on Iron Man, but ended up infringing on Iron Fist as a nice twist. The Black Widower infringes on Black Widow. There is a suggestion to make him a voodoo necromancer, which sounds good to me. The Incredible Sulk infringes on the Incredible Hulk. What exactly sulk means is open to discussion. Perhaps instead of a rage monster he or she is a self-loathing emo monster. Baldr infringes on Thor. He's another Norse god with connections to Loki. He's nigh invulnerable except to mistletoe. Eagle Claw infringes on Hawkeye. I just replaced a bird name and a body part with another bird name and another body part. Perhaps this hero is melee-based instead of ranged based? Termiteatrix infringes on Ant Man. It's just a fancy way of saying Termite Woman. Crimson Wizard infringes on Scarlet Witch. Crimson is another word for Red. Wizard is the male counterpart for Witch. Although infringing on Doctor Strange is fine too. You caught me making two gender swaps in a row in a fit of laziness. Aqua Regia infringes on Quicksilver. Quicksilver is an archaic chemical name. Aqua Regia is another archaic chemical name for an acid that can dissolve gold. Aqua regia could be very corrosive in power or personality or both.

6e1 p426-427 simply refers to Professional and Romantic rivalries. I think your relabelling to "Personal/Social" fits the spirit of the rule and wouldn't let the RAW get in your way.

Having failed the EGO roll for my Psychological Limitation to compulsively write-up the silly stuff that pops into my head, I give you one possible Infringers lineup. This one is inspired by the MCU rather than the original comic book source material. Corporate America Irony Man The Black Widower The Incredible Sulk Baldr Eagle Claw Termiteatrix Crimson Wizard Aqua Regia

Or he could go the Ramna route and change into a woman, which would put a whole new spin on the superhero womanizer trope.

As someone who came back to the Hero System after a very long break, I often suffer from decision paralysis when spending my experience points. I try to spend experience to boost my effectiveness while also staying true to my character concept, but I freely admit I've made some terrible design choices along the way. Fortunately, my Champions GM is rather accepting about character redesigns and will even suggest design improvements. I like not having to suffer forevermore for one bad idea I had during character design. However, I have no idea how common or uncommon this experience is in the greater HERO system community. Since there are no level or class constraints in HERO system to guide us, do you or your players also struggle with how best to spend experience points? Do you horde them up until you can afford a big ticket item or do you spend them as you get them? Once spent, are the points forever set in stone, or can you concede design defeat and try again at your new point total? I've mostly spent my points as I get them, with the occasional saving for a big ticket item, but with lenient redesigns I also frequently find myself judging my character on his current utility. Are my attacks and defenses up to the campaign standards/limits? Is there a new power, perk, or skill that would both fit my character concept and help the team? For example, I recently added a group-flight power, but I haven't gotten to use it yet. If my fellow players continue to demonstrate self-sufficiency with travel powers, I know I will consider these points wasted, and I'll want to better spend them elsewhere. Does this kind of dynamic happen in your games too?

Several of my early builds of my current super hero included useless flavor skills and perks that fit the character concept. After several rounds of GM review and suggestions, these items are essentially free flavor items that cost no points. Granted, that's because they don't show up in game or only show up in exposition between scenes/adventures. My current build is much more utilitarian and combat-effective, but that's what my team needs. As the designated face-man and backup tank/brick I can't afford to be a glass canon.

I like this concept. Bonus points if Black Widower declares, "I have had it with these mother-loving [plural noun] on this mother-loving [location]!"